Hi All,

I recall the the 109 could jettison its undercarriage. Do I recall correctly?

I'm not home with my references.

hi,

Well, this is a new one on me, never heard of that before, actually cant even think of a reason why you would want to dump the landing gear....

but Im no expert
hope this helps.
Jason

Hi there

I've never heard of that one either...

I've read that the Ju-87D-5 introduced a jettisonable undercarriage - is that what you remember?

All the best

Rowan

In the 109G-6 cockpit there is a Red handle on the lower right side of the instrument panel for "undercarriage emergency release", I believe this is to be used in the case of failure of one or both of the gear to retract or extend properly and allows the gear to be jettisoned so the pilot can make a "safer" belly landing.

Source"The Great Book of World War II Airplanes" ISBN 0-517-459930

Seems I've heard / read about this elsewhere too but the memory fails. Eject - Eject

Hi Chuck

Are you sure that's not to simply lower the u/c by force of gravity if it's jammed?

All the best

Rowan

Rowan,
In truth NO, but I do recall some mention of dropping the gear if it malfunctioned being mentioned before, may have been on the series "Wings" on TV. I'm still looking, but again the memory fails the Horror - the Horror.

The only reference I could find that actually mentions jettison, is for the single wheel modification added for the SC500 bomb Feisler designed an explosive bolt jettison for that, to be added to 109s specifically to give ground clearance on take off.

EDIT - Upon further reading, Doh, it appears that the lever in the cockpit is as Merlin said "to release the gear to lower by gravity incase of engine failure". Sorry.

Hi again Chuck

I must admit you had me worried for a while... I was staring at various pics of instrument panels and thinking "I can't have missed a jettison lever... surely!..."

As for "dropping" the gear... that's common pilots' jargon for lowering it - you can also "drop the flaps"... which doesn't mean leaving them behind.

All the best

Rowan

Interesting :-)
Mal